Conventionally, certain types of industrial plants and factories are known to consume high amount of electrical power, which may possibly cause disruption to the power supply on the land based grid, and also produce significant amount of pollution as a by-product. Some examples of such plants and factories include metal processing facilities, scrap metal processing facilities, refineries etc.
It is also known that land-based power generation by burning coal, natural gas or petroleum is inefficient and produces emissions that may be harmful and/or may cause pollution in areas near the power plant. Danger of explosion or risk of fire to the storage facilities of these flammable substances is also a concern when these land-based power generation facilities are located near populated areas. With regard to hydroelectric dams, wind turbines and solar power, the challenge lies in finding a geographical location that is able to harness these natural forces and yet close enough to transmit the harnessed power to the grid. For example, for land based wind power generation, it is known that coastal shoreline are suitable for setting up wind turbines because coastal wind are rather consistent and has an average wind speed of between 4 m/s to 18 m/s. However, usable coastal shorelines are typically limited and/or may be located over a large distance away from the grid, thus resulting in significant transmission losses. With regards to nuclear power, handling of nuclear waste and/or the danger of a nuclear leak is always a concern.
A need therefore exists to address at least some of the above problems.